Thermaltake Armor A30 Case Review

Introduction:

Everyone has heard that size does not matter right? Sometimes that can be true, but normally in the world of computer cases if you want all of the features then you need to opt for a full tower chassis. Well that's not the case any longer, no pun intended. We have seen a number of manufacturers packing in the features we love in full tower cases down into smaller mATX style chassis. Giving us the ability to choose where we want to house our precious components. One manufacturer that takes the case building designs to the limits is Thermaltake. They are well known for some radical designs such as the Level 10 that broke the traditional case style and then took the design even further with the revamped Level 10 GT. While those designs are well thought out for your home build they are too heavy and bulky for LAN party travel.

To give you the portability that is needed when lugging your gaming systems from LAN party to LAN party you need something smaller in size, but not in features. The Armor series from Thermaltake has been around for some years, and have notably been seen as some of the toughest and feature rich cases to build with. When they were looking to make the ultimate small form factor chassis, they built off of that design and in comes the Thermaltake Armor A30 SFF Gaming Chassis.

The Armor A30 packs a wallop in a small design. Some of the standout features include the ability to use full size graphics cards (such as the Radeon HD 6970), front panel USB 3.0, eSATA Support, Motherboard support up to mATX sizes, and more. If you wanted to see a little chassis pack a big punch, then I suggest you strap in and get ready for the feature rich ride of your life!

Closer Look:

The Thermaltake Armor A30 comes packaged in a sleek sturdy box to protect the case in transit. On the front of the packaging there is an image of the case along with the both the Armor A30 and USB 3.0 logos. On the rear of the packaging there is tear down image showing the parts of the chassis along with close-ups of some of the important features such as the removable motherboard tray, storage options, and cooling features. On the right side of the box is a list of the features that make the Armor A30 the chassis it is.

With the case out of the box you can see the amount of detail that went into the design. The chassis is made of SECC and plastic and it is a very heavy case weighing in at almost 15 pounds empty. No doubt the A30 will handle the rough and tough travel to and from your LAN parties. While considered a small form factor case, the size suggests otherwise. The A30 measures 18 inches long, 11.5 inches wide and 10.5 inches tall. It is more like a mid tower case squished into a cube. Included with the chassis is also the guide booklet and hardware.

Now that we have the Armor A30 out of the package let's start off with a look around the outside of the chassis.